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Aspiring monk killed in car crash

By OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK and PATRICK LOHMANN/Albuquerque Journal

Posted:
05/19/2013 02:54:59 PM MDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — With college and fraternity life behind him, Christian Guruli, 24, was anticipating the new life he would lead at a rural abbey in the South Valley with members of the Norbertine Community of New Mexico, which he planned to join as a novice in August.

On Saturday, the Peqasco native graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

On Monday, Guruli woke up early at the Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey, cleaned his room and washed his clothes before meeting a friend for lunch, members of the Norbertine order said.

He was returning to the abbey about 2 p.m. when a Dodge Ram pickup driven by Anthony Chavez, 26, ran a red light at Coors and Pajarito SW and slammed into Guruli's Volkswagen Jetta, a Bernalillo County deputy wrote in a criminal complaint. Guruli was dead at the scene.

Guruli would have become the youngest member of the 14-man community when he received his monk's habit at a novitiate ceremony scheduled Aug. 27, members of the order said Wednesday.

"I think he found that we were a community committed to New Mexico," said the Rev. Joel Garner, abbot of Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey in Albuquerque.

"He felt the need for community," Garner said. "An abbey is rooted in the community. We take almost a vow of stability."

Guruli was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity during his years at UNM, and fraternity members described him as deeply faithful but able to cut loose.

Around 200 friends and family members packed into the UNM Alumni Memorial Chapel on Wednesday to hear fraternity members and others who knew Guruli share fond memories.

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"For being so involved in his faith, Christian was a damn good time," said Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity president Dan Douglas at a memorial service for Guruli on Wednesday.

Douglas said Guruli left seminary school in the Midwest in fall 2010 and wasn't sure he would end up joining the church. But through personal struggle and conversations with his family, Douglas said, Guruli decided that he would indeed try to become a priest.

"He was really excited to have that opportunity and go on that journey to see what he wanted to do with his life," Douglas said. "It was sort of neat to know him during that adventure."

Douglas and Zac Anaya, the fraternity's vice president, last saw Guruli on Thursday during a small gathering where he talked about beginning his life as a college graduate.

"Christian was a loving and caring individual that cared more about others than he cared about himself," Anaya said at the memorial. "I think Christian is a shining example of that stereotype being shattered. If you want to see what a fraternity man is supposed to be, it's Christian Guruli."

Earlier, Anaya posted on a Journal website to express Guruli's commitment to service.

"We may be angered about the situation and the fact that he was taken from us so early in his life and before he could go out into the world and make a difference, but the thing is, he did make a difference," Anaya said on the website.

Members of Guruli's family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Guruli had lived for a year before college with an out-of-state religious order but felt the tug of his native state, members of the Norbertine community said.

"He had a spirituality for the land that came from New Mexico and Peqasco," said the Rev. Francis Dorff, who served as Guruli's spiritual director.

Before he attended UNM, Gurule lived out-of-state for a year with members of a conservative religious community. He had an unusual commitment for a young man.